Abuse in Care: Changes recommended by the inquiry

The long-awaited Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry final report is complete, more than five years after its terms of reference were announced and decades after survivors first called for redress.

On Wednesday it was formally tabled in Parliament and made public for the first time.

The inquiry detailed the scale of the abuse and neglect that occurred in the care of New Zealand state and faith-based institutions from 1950 to 2019.

Survivors who suffered unimaginable physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse, severe exploitation and neglect, shared their experiences and their subsequent life-long pain and trauma.

It examined how the abuse and neglect was able to occur, how it persisted for decades, and its lasting individual and collective impacts.

And through its 138 recommendations, it has provided a clear pathway to help put right the deep harm done to survivors.

Here is a snapshot of the categories to which the recommendations relate:

• Implement the new puretumu torowhānui, or holistic redress system and scheme as an immediate priority
• Key leaders, including the prime minister and the Pope, to make public acknowledgments and apologies
• Review the appropriateness of street names, public amenities named after a proven perpetrator
• Take steps to determine liability for torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including NZ Police to open and reopen investigations into allegations of offending in care
• Ensure faith-based institutions and indirect state care providers join the puretumu torowhānui system and scheme
• Backdate eligibility for the puretumu torowhānui system and scheme to December 2021
• Compensate survivors of abuse and neglect in care
• Recommended actions specific to the Order of St John of God
• Give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi in the puretumu torowhānui system and scheme
• Embed human rights into the puretumu torowhānui system and scheme
• Review Lake Alice settlements for parity
• Establish an independent investigation of unmarked graves and urupā at the sites of former psychiatric and psychopaedic hospitals, social welfare institutions or other relevant sites
• Establish a fund for projects connected to community harm arising from the cumulative impact of abuse and neglect in care
• Whānau payments for whānau of survivors of abuse and neglect in care
• Amend a suite of prosecution guidelines
• Support judicial initiatives that address the causes of offending
• Criminal justice legislative changes
• Education and training for people involved in the justice system
• Amend investigation guidelines and establish a specialist investigation unit
• Civil justice legislative changes
• Principles for preventing and responding to abuse and neglect in care
• A new comprehensive National Care Safety Strategy, required by law, on the prevention of and response to abuse and neglect in care and what it should include
• Establishing an independent Care Safe Agency
• Establishing a new Care Safety Act
• Consistent and comprehensive care safety standards and penalties for non-compliance
• Care providers to be accredited and prioritise safeguarding
• Staff and care workers to be vetted, registered, and well-trained
• Complaints are responded to effectively
• Institutional environments and practices to be minimised and ultimately eliminated
• People in care are empowered and supported
• Best practice data collection, record-keeping and information sharing
• Independent oversight and monitoring is coherent and well-resourced
• The government should take all practicable steps to ensure the ongoing safety of children, young people, and adults in care at Gloriavale
• Recommendations to all faith-based entities providing care
• Communities are empowered to minimise the need for out of whānau care
• Giving effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi and human rights
• Targeted abuse and neglect prevention programmes
• Establishing a Care System Office to lead implementation
• The government and faith-based institutions should take any and all actions required to give effect to the inquiry's recommendations set out in this report and the Holistic Redress Recommendations in He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu: From Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui, including changes to investment, public policy, legislation or regulations, operational practice or guidelines
• The design and implementation of all recommendations to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and UNDRIP, and be co-designed with hapū and iwi
• All public awareness, training and education programmes to identify and prevent abuse and neglect, and address prejudice and discrimination
• New entity appointments to reflect diversity, survivor experience and expertise
• Transparency and public accountability for implementing inquiry recommendations

The full list of recommendations can be found here.

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.